Billing modifiers were created to provide additional information to the payer about the performed procedure(s) and help describe and/or qualify the services provided. There are common modifiers used by commercial payers and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), that indicate to the payer that the services provided have been altered in a way that is different than the ascribed definition of the billing code. For example, a modifier should be used when all of the tests in a bundled code were not performed or when only one ear was tested.
Topic(s): Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicare, Advance Beneficiary Notice (ABN), CPT - Current Procedural Terminology, Coding, Reimbursement, Practice Management, Patient care, Treatment
Hearing aid processing no longer operates under the assumption that the real-world listening environments are represented by simple laboratory test conditions, such as the talker of interest is in front with noise behind, or even that there is only a single talker of interest. In addition, the driving philosophy has shifted from treating a single complaint (e.g., understanding in noise) to holistically treating individuals across the full range of their real environments and experiences (e.g., connecting to an auditory world).
Topic(s): Amplification, Research, Hearing, Hearing Assistive Technologies (HAT), Hearing Aids, Hearing Health Care, Patient care, Treatment
Public health agencies, in conjunction with Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs, monitor the results of newborn screening outcomes, newborns with risk factors for the late onset of hearing loss, the prevalence of confirmed hearing loss, the type and degree of these losses, and the number of babies enrolled in services. A public health system is the best way for all of the parties providing hearing care to a child to have access to the results of the provided care.
Topic(s): Pediatric, Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI), Patient care, Treatment, Hearing
Over the years, there has been an expansion of group aural rehabilitation programs facilitated by audiologists to support new hearing aid users and their families. These programs focus on hearing aid use, the psychosocial aspects of living with hearing loss, collaborative problem solving, and the facilitation of communication strategies (Kricos, 2000). There are numerous advantages to offering group aural rehabilitation, but what makes a program successful?
Topic(s): Aural Rehabilitation, Audiologist, Hearing Loss, Hearing Aids, Rehabilitation, Treatment
More specifically, this article will (1) describe the principles of family-centered practice in adult audiologic rehabilitation, (2) summarize observations of family-centered behaviors in current audiologic rehabilitation, and (3) identify opportunities to increase the family-centeredness of adult audiologic rehabilitation. To address these aims, we will outline the research evidence behind family-centered care (FCC) (the why), and from this, describe how FCC might best be implemented in audiologic rehabilitation.
Topic(s): Audiologist, Aural Rehabilitation, Practice Management, Rehabilitation, Treatment
Audiology is the study of one of the most important senses we possess as human beings: a sense that connects us 24/7 to our environment, to other people through a real-time fusion of mind and emotion we call speech, and to the opportunities of life that arise from being in the right place at the right time.
Yet, despite all this, society largely seems to consider hearing care irrelevant. It often takes a crisis in a person’s life before someone seeks out an audiologist—if they seek us out at all.
Topic(s): Hearing Loss, Treatment
